1092 ON QUEENSLAND AND OTHER AUSTRALIAN MACRO-LEPIDOPTERA, 



band, apex suffused red centred with ochreous-white : cilia ochre- 

 ous-brown. Hindwings coloured as forewings ; a rich chocolate 

 waved and curved bar from J costa to J inner margin, thence 

 along inner margin to second bar which reaches from | inner 

 margin and in a curved line gradually neariug margin to f costa ; 

 a marginal band bordering inner and hindmargins ochreous-brow^n, 

 as in forewings ; discal rings broadly black, with a blue and black 

 line edging inner margin nearest base of w4ng, and occupying the 

 middle third of space between the two chocolate bars — translucent 

 spot a fine dob only ; cilia as forewings. On the underside of 

 wHngs fuscous and smoke-coloured scales are dusted thickly between 

 discal ring, costa and outer bar, forming a suffusion over forewings 

 and over all excepting middle third of hiodwings. The double bar 

 becomes a crimson-red band along inner half of forewings. The 

 hind band alone is seen on hindwings, of which the inner third is 

 crimson-red, whence it is gradually suffused with smoky-brown. 



The species of Aiithercea are in many cases very variable. A. 

 janetta varies exceedingly. So does A. eucalypti. Other species 

 are less variable. Many are closely allied in general appearance. 

 It is only from a study of the creatures in nature, and from 

 a long series of specimens, that we can hope to define the various 

 species. A, iyitermedia comes very near to A. eucalypti. The 

 caterpillar is much more gaudily coloured in the former. A. 

 eucalypti is much more generally distributed. I have found it 

 from Melbourne to Cooktown. A. iiitermedia is found in the 

 Gippsland zone. I found it 800 to 1000 feet high in GipjDsland. 

 The Gippsland fauna comes down to sea-level at Brisbane. This 

 evidently proves that the rainfall has more to do with the locale 

 of many species than the differences of heat and cold. I have 

 obtained scores of Lepido})tera in Gippsland at 800 to 1200 feet, 

 and in Brisbane at sea-level only. The cocoon of A. intermedia is 

 larger, more silky and shining than that of A. eucalypti. The 

 relative size of the sexes is more nearly alike in A. intermedia. 

 The colour is constant in A. intermedia. It varies from grey, brown, 

 drab, cream, fulvous, &c., in A. eucalypti The triangular white 

 ■blotch on the costa in A. eucalypti is absent in A. intermedia. 



